A FORMER soldier demonstrated to murder trial jurors how he kicked a man who was on the ground with fatal head injuries.

But Stephen Thomas, 25, who had only been released from prison the day of the attack, insisted it was just a “fight that had gone wrong”.

He told Liverpool Crown Court he had not intended to cause victim Darren Bolger, 40, serious harm, despite admitting kicking him in the face.

Mr Bolger suffered a fractured skull which led to fatal bleeding and swelling on the brain. He was taken to Whiston Hospital where he fell into a coma and was declared dead shortly before midnight.

Thomas, of no fixed address, denies murder on January 27, after both men were separately refused access to the Salvation Army hostel in St Helens.

Taking the stand yesterday a suited Thomas claimed the incident was sparked after Mr Bolger shouted insults at him. He admitted walking or jogging across a grassed area and then scaling a metal fence to get to Mr Bolger.

He said: “Basically he came at me first. He threw a can at me. He came to me and that’s why I inflicted violence upon him.”

But under questioning by Anne Whyte QC, prosecuting, Thomas admitted the can had not hit him and he had easily blocked Mr Bolger’s punch.

She challenged why, even if Thomas’s claims were true, he had not simply walked away from Mr Bolger who was eight stone and 11lbs and described as drunk by witnesses.

Thomas said: “I wish I had walked away.”

Under questioning, he agreed with Miss Whyte that he had hit Mr Bolger with “hard, fast punches”, giving him no time to defend himself and causing him to fall to the floor with a loud noise.

Thomas admitted: “I saw blood at the back of his head.”

After also agreeing he had seen blood coming from Mr Bolger’s nose, Thomas confessed to twice kicking him in the face. On the second occasion he had walked away and returned to deliver the blow. But he insisted Mr Bolger was coming round and beginning to sit up.

He said: “He was sat up, trying to get into an upright position, sat up on his arse basically, trying to get up and I kicked him again in his face to put him down.”

When questioned by his barrister Nicholas Johnson QC about whether Mr Bolger posed a threat, Thomas answered: “I thought so, yes, because he was trying to get up.”

But Miss Whyte said: “What you did was thoroughly violent wasn’t it? You just don’t want to admit it.

“Blood was coming from both sides of his head and he was on the floor. That is not a fight.”

Thomas replied: “It was a fight.”

He added: “I didn’t think it was serious at the time. I didn’t think he was in such a bad state.”